Kean admits Hoilett advantage is with the player

Steve Kean has admitted that the club faces an increasingly difficult situation with contract rebel Junior Hoilett.

Hoilett has been stalling on a new contract for what seems like a generation and has now only got six months left until he can leave the club.

This has left his club with a problem - sell him now for a fee or spend the next five months trying to persuade him that he is best off at Ewood Park and risk losing him for a tribunal fee in the summer.

Either way, Steve Kean (master of positivity and delusions) has admitted the player holds all the cards.

Kean told the BBC - 'Any player does when it gets down to six months.

'What we have to do is to continue to be open and honest with Junior and say 'we want you to stay'.

'If he would like to commit his future to the club we have always said from day one that we would like to get it tied up.

'He has probably taken the opportunity to look elsewhere. I don't know where he is on it. If we can get to a point where he wants to sign then great.

'If not, if there is a bid that comes in then we would obviously have to consider that, and the fact that he hadn't signed. But no bids have come in.'

Kean said that the club should have given Hoilett a longer contract than the two-year deal he was awarded in 2010 when Sam Allardyce was Rovers boss.

'A couple of years ago when we only signed him for two years we should have made that a longer contract,' added Kean. 'Everybody would say we should have pushed to make it longer because now when there's six months left it's tough for the club.'

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Finally - a bit of realism! But, hey, it's always someone else's fault, isn't it, Steve? You've been saying this is a done deal for months and now that you know you're going to lose him, it's down to his last contract agreement. Brilliant as always.

It is so easy to blame Kean if Junior leaves but no one can force him to sign?,Junior needs to look at what Rovers have done for his career!out of loyalty he should of signed the deal ages ago and if he had worries put a claus in the contract.I'm not convinced he is that good and since all the talk of moving his work rate makes Dunny look fit!He will probably turn out to be another David Bentley but without the big gob!!Get what we can for him and move on!Our play has been better without him...

While agreeing with much of what has been said above, I do not agree that Hoilett "holds ALL the cards".
Rovers do not have to sell him in this window, they can force him to wait till summer, though they would only get a tribunal fee they will get a fee (not free as others keep saying)
If he wants to move to a top club in the summer he will have to keep playing well, to keep those clubs interested in him.
During the rest of the season if he keeps 'feeding the Yak', the assists that he provides could be the difference between survival and relegation.
Steve Kean, you still hold one card. Your decision to play or fold!

It's not steve kean's job to handle contracts. The days of the manager doing everything are long gone. The most he can do is to try and talk him into staying, but with nothing to offer him and other clubs being able to probably double what he can get by staying, what chance does he have?

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